Vicarious
by FutureMrsStabler
Summary: A series of attempts to shake Elliot's nerves becomes something much more sinister and forces Olivia into a terrifying race to save his life.


**Disclaimer: Law and Order: SVU is the property of Dick Wolf **

**Obviously this is not keeping in the timeline of current seasons and characters…I'd rather stick with my original favorites.**

The wet slapping of shoes abruptly broke through the heavy rain. Three men tore wildly through the alley and sprinted toward the East River Professional Building.

A pair of beige sedans with sirens wailing screeched to a stop across the street. One ending up halfway on the sidewalk and nearly took out a newspaper dispenser, but Detective Elliot Stabler didn't even seem fazed about it as he slammed the gearshift into park. He opened his door and took off in the direction of the suspects.

Detective Olivia Benson shot him an incredulous, annoyed look from the passenger seat but he didn't see it. She shook her head and climbed out of the car quickly, checking the clip of her gun underneath her bulletproof vest as she ran after her partner.

Detectives John Munch and Odafin Tutuola were already out and running. Elliot caught up easily to match pace beside them. He looked back to check for his partner and saw that she was almost right on their heels.

More sirens overtook the dank air a moment later. Two squad cars zoomed to a stop beside their vehicles and backup officers quickly headed in the same direction after them.

Elliot's dress shirt was plastered to the skin underneath his bulletproof vest and his slacks were soaked almost to the knees from where he kept running through puddles. His half-lidded attempts at trying to see through the downpour turned into a grimace when he felt the disgusting sensation of water seeping through his socks.

He and Fin reached the stairs by the front of the building first. They headed up while their partners continued down the sidewalk leading behind the building. Elliot gritted his teeth when freezing drops of water flicked into his face from the bottom of the other detective's shoes every time Fin took a step above him.

"Watch it," Fin said, turning his head back toward him. "Stairs are slippery."

As if on cue Elliot's feet suddenly slid apart, startling him into gripping the wet railing tighter. _Lovely,_ he thought sourly as he planted his feet more firmly.

They reached the first level and encountered doors to several office buildings. Fin immediately tightened his grip on his gun and paused before the first door, squaring his stance in preparation.

Elliot stepped up beside him and aimed his weapon as Fin reached for the knob.

Adrenaline automatically coursed through his veins to throb in his ears

* * *

Olivia scanned beyond the chain link fence to the overgrown rusted train tracks a few yards away. Wild weeds led back into dark woods that she could barely even make out amidst the rain.

John turned from his own scan of the other side of the fence and scowled. The back of the building had ended up being nothing but a small square of poorly-tended grass surrounded by a low fence.

She scowled and looked back toward John again. The only place to go if the suspects had come this way was over the fence and there was no way of knowing how much of a head start they had gotten.

"Damn it!" she swore angrily.

* * *

Fin looked over at Elliot and waited for his nod that he was ready before getting into position. They had made it up three flights of stairs by then and checked every office door they had come to.

He turned the knob and listened to the _click-click _of the firm inside lock. Elliot was standing so close beside him facing the door that he could feel their shoulders touching slightly. He was squinting one eye in response to the rain as Fin stepped back.

Sharing a look of annoyance, they stepped back up onto the stairs. Elliot fell into line behind him again on the narrow staircase that only allowed room for single-file.

Fin had just put his foot on the fourth story landing when he suddenly heard the _clunk _of Elliot's footsteps abruptly stop behind him. He looked back to see his colleague halted several steps below, scowling down at his waist and tugging at the straps of his vest.

"What's up?" he asked loudly, turning on the landing to look down.

The other man didn't reply or look up. Concerned, Fin began making his way to him. Hearing the heavy steps approaching made Elliot's head snap up in surprise. He hadn't heard him say anything because of the rain. Elliot held a hand up quickly to stop him.

"It's my phone," he said in a raised voice as he finally managed to tear the vibrating thing free from underneath the vest. He squinted up at him and waved at him to keep going.

"Stabler," Elliot yelled into the phone, bringing his gun arm up and pushing one finger against his ear to hear.

Fin turned and aimed again. The fourth story had only one door and he went ahead with turning the knob. Locked. With a scowl he pushed away from the door and stepped up a few stairs of the next level to wait for Elliot.

He reached up to automatically swipe at the feeling of wetness creeping down his face again. The odds that they would have to keep going up too much further seemed very slim. The suspects hadn't gotten _that_ much of a head start, after all, and with all of the offices locked the only place they could go was further up anyway. They would have been able to hear it if anyone were above them.

It was likely that the suspects hadn't gone up the stairs at all. They suspects had probably taken the easy option of just going straight toward the back of the building and had already been apprehended by Munch and Olivia. Hell, it was probably Olivia on the phone telling Elliot just that.

* * *

Elliot jammed the phone back into his pocket after another minute and looked up, beginning to clump up toward Fin.

"Was that Olivia?" he asked loudly.

"No," Elliot yelled back. He wiped water from his eyes as he continued for the landing. "Cragen. We-"

The office door that Fin had just cleared suddenly crashed open from the inside. One of the suspects they were after came bursting onto the landing and scurrying down the stairs.

"Police! FREEZE!"

Elliot's bellow through the rain. His eyes narrowed and he locked his jaw along with his gun aim. Fin mirrored him menacingly from where he stood on the landing above, training his weapon down at the suspect as well.

The man stopped in his tracks at the sight of them, frenzied desperation clear on his face when he realized he was stuck.

"Don't move," Elliot ordered warningly as he began coming up toward him. "Put your hands up."

The suspect was trapped with one detective above him and one below him. They could see his adrenaline rising as his breaths increased and his eyes became wild.

Faced with the choice of being arrested or risking escape, the suspect made a quick choice. He glanced over both detectives, taking in the sight of Fin standing on the stairs a few feet above him and Elliot coming up the stairs toward him.

Maybe he thought the two detectives appeared caught off-guard. Maybe he was more intimidated by Fin's body language and stance. Maybe he saw that Elliot's feet were slipping unsteadily on the slick stairs as he approached.

Whatever the reason, it was strong enough to fuel the suspect's decision. He locked his jaw, squared his shoulders, and began rushing down the stairs. Elliot quickly brought his weapon into line, startled, and yelled again for the suspect to freeze.

Fin's eyes widened in shock when he saw the suspect move. His finger immediately went toward the trigger of his gun. He yelled at him to stop in almost the exact same breath that Elliot did, making his way quickly back down toward the landing,

Elliot barely got the word out before he realized the suspect was not slowing. He squeezed the trigger and let out a shot when the man got even closer but the rain in his eyes skewed his aim.

Fin heard the bark of the gun when Elliot fired and waited for the suspect's fall. The loud metallic _CLINK! _he heard a half second later made him jump.

It only took a second for his brain to register what the sound meant and his stomach dropped.

Elliot's face registered his shock when the bullet struck the railing beside the suspect's face and then turned to horror.

"Shit!" Fin swore anxiously. He clattered down towards them rapidly and began to shout at the suspect.

He couldn't even complete the breath before the suspect collided solidly with Elliot.

* * *

Before Elliot could brace himself, the man had slipped one hand underneath his vest to grab a fistful of shirt and wrenched the other hand around his neck.

Having been fumbling for balance on the wet stairs to begin with, Elliot began to teeter backwards and the suspect used it to his advantage. He shoved the detective hard and then scrambled toward the ground as fast as he possibly could.

Stunned horror overcame Fin's face as he watched what was happening. He began taking the steps two at a time.

Elliot's stomach somersaulted into his throat when the ground was suddenly gone from under him. Fear sank in belatedly and made him tense up at exactly the wrong moment. He realized his mistake at the same time that his head banged hard against unforgiving steel.

The suspect's feet echoed as they thumped down the flights of stairs below them. Fin jumped down the last remaining steps and raced toward Elliot.

* * *

Munch and Olivia had just reached the stairwell when the shot rang up from above.

Olivia jumped reflexively at the same time that her stomach twisted. Her first thought was of her partner. When she exchanged a startled look with Munch, she knew he was doing the same.

She was the first to start running, clanging up the stairs as fast as she could with Munch on her heels. They could hear the scuffling and echoing of feet somewhere above them.

Voices floated down close to them as they approached the first floor. The uniformed officers were standing on the landing holding tightly to a tall, scraggly-looking man.

"You guys alright?" she asked, looking between the officers and then at Munch when he stepped over a moment later. "Who fired?"

"One of your guys," the younger of the two officers replied in a slight rush.

He sounded almost breathless. He shook his head and then jerked it back toward the stairs quickly. Something solid settled in Olivia's gut and a sickening feeling overcame her.

Her instincts were screaming at her to get up there **now.**

The stricken look in her eyes was easy to recognize. John nodded at her as if sensing her feelings.

* * *

The sensation of pain shooting through his senses was the only thing registering in his mind when Elliot came to awareness. He groaned immediately and tried to figure out what was causing it.

"Easy, hold still," he heard from somewhere beside his head. "Don't try to move…"

The words were confusing but faded to the background as soon as he felt something tight being fitted around his throat. He quickly tried to jerk away from it and panicked when his head refused to move.

_What's wrong with my neck? Why can't I move my neck?! _

"Easy, easy." A paramedic was speaking gently as he finished securing a brace around the detective's neck. "It's just a precaution. Stay still."

Olivia realized that her partner was becoming alert and immediately crouched down by his head.

"El," she said urgently. "Elliot, stay with us." She watched his eyes jerk rapidly toward her voice. "You're going to be okay."

He groaned again and said something that came out nonsensical. She looked worriedly to the paramedic closest to her before returning her attention back to his face. She allowed her hand to settle lightly on his head.

The second paramedic secured a brace around his leg as the other half of the rescue team was heard maneuvering a stretcher over the stairs towards them. One of them held out the blanket lying on the top to Fin and he passed it over to Olivia before moving to help lift Elliot onto the bed.

John stood beside one of the paramedics and assisted in lifting his friend's shoulders up. Elliot glanced around in a daze but his eyes slipped closed repeatedly to look like he was falling asleep.

Once he was settled up on the stretcher Olivia covered him with the blanket as much as she could. It was soaked but it was better than nothing.

* * *

"Damn it."

She turned back toward the table once the doctor had gone from the room toward her partner's scowling face. He was looking murderously at the cast encasing his left leg from the knee to the toes and she had to stifle her laugh.

It had been almost three hours since they had arrived at the hospital. Munch and Fin had stayed behind to finish things with the other officers and had told her they would take care of informing the captain of the situation. Despite having ridden with him in the ambulance, once it had arrived the staff behind the desk had told her that she was going to have to wait in the lobby until they were finished in the emergency room and she hadn't been able to get them to bend the rules despite showing her badge.

So she'd sat there for two hours and twenty-five minutes bored out of her mind with nothing to read except an old copy of _Reader's Digest _until someone had finally directed her toward an exam room.

She had been greeted with the sight of her partner lying awkwardly in a bed with his head bandaged and his leg in a cast. He had done his best to glare the doctor into intimidation when the man had told him he needed to stay overnight for observation.

Being doped up on painkillers hadn't his cause and only made him look amusingly like a pouting 6-year old. When he realized that the doctor wasn't relenting, Elliot had looked at her to back him up and then glared at her when she told him she was staying out of it.

She couldn't a straight face after the doctor left. Her partner was looking at her like she was the world's biggest rat.

"Oh, come on, Elliot," she said, her mouth continuing to twitch dangerously. "You broke your leg and have a concussion, for God's sake. What did you expect?"

"You could have driven me home," he argued sourly. "All I'm going to do here is lay in bed and sleep. I can do that at my house, damn it!"

She let her smile out. "Geez, you're a grump," she teased. "You better watch it or I'll tell them to keep you here until tomorrow night."

"I'll kill you," he threatened warningly as he narrowed his eyes at his partner. But the note of slight anxiety couldn't quite be hidden when he saw the gleam in her eyes.

When the doctor came back in she had to turn away and straighten her expression, which was not at all reassuring to Elliot who was still looking at her with badly concealed uncertainty. A male nurse came through the doorway half a minute later pushing a wheelchair.

"Alright, Mr. Stabler," the doctor said, nodding toward the nurse. "Brad here will go ahead and get you settled into your room. I'm afraid I can't give you anything to help you sleep because we've got to keep a close eye on that head wound. Unfortunately that means someone will be waking you every few hours tonight to monitor your condition."

Elliot's expression turned pained and resigned. The doctor smiled reassuringly.

"But," he went on quickly. "On the up side, that means we should be able to prevent any problems from arising during the night and we can release you first thing in the morning so that you can get quality rest at home."

The look of relief on his face was genuine, but it didn't stop him from eyeing his partner warily as the other two men helped him into the wheelchair.

"You heard him," Elliot said pointedly. "_First thing_ in the morning." The impish smile he received in return didn't help to reassure him. He raised his eyebrows menacingly as the nurse began pushing him past her toward the doorway. "I mean it, Liv. We're talking crack of dawn."

Olivia winked at him teasingly, completely unaffected by the sorry excuse for a threatening tone her partner was trying so hard to assert on her, and just smiled widely.

"Behave," she said warningly, raising her own eyebrows pointedly. The doctor looked at her with amusement and she shared a smile with him. "I'll find out if you don't."

The nurse was continuing on forward too quickly for him to look back to see her face. Her laugh slipped free when she glimpsed the expression of sheer anxiety as he was taken through the doorway into the hall.

She winked at the doctor and he shook his head with a grin.

"He should be good to go by seven tomorrow morning," he told her. "You'll need to sign out at the front desk before we can discharge him."

"Not a problem," Olivia replied. "I'll call his family so that if I can't be here someone else will be." She reached out a hand toward the older man. "Thank you, Doctor."

"My pleasure," he replied as he shook it companionably. As they walked together out of the room he shook his head again. "Though for your sake, I hope your partner's bark is worse than his bite after winding him up like that."

She chuckled again with a twinkle in her eye. "Don't let him fool you," she replied affectionately. "He's nothing _but _bark."

The man just raised his eyebrows. Olivia smiled indulgently as she turned away to head for the exit.

* * *

He jolted awake with a gasp as the shaking against his shoulder got firmer. There was light invading his eyes and he couldn't see anything except white dots.

"Sir? Can you hear me?"

He blinked rapidly until his vision cleared. A woman wearing a white lab coat was leaning slightly over him wearing a concerned expression, hand positioned on his left forearm. Shaking slightly with the residual effects of confusion and apprehension from dreaming, Elliot leaned back against the pillow and tried to calm his breathing. Then he groaned. They had been repeating the ritual all night and he was exhausted. He just wanted to _sleep_.

The woman smiled gently when she saw his sour expression. "Tell me your full name and age, please," she instructed.

"Elliot Matthew Stabler," he said groggily. "And I'll only tell you my age if you promise to act surprised."

She chuckled. "Well, let's see now," she began teasingly. "This is the third time I've been in here tonight asking these questions. So far, you've told me to 'count your age in dog years,' then to 'use my imagination'…and now you're telling me to 'act surprised?'" She gave him a mock glare as she picked up his chart. "Are you ever going to actually _tell_ me your age, Mr. Stabler?"

Despite the fact that he felt like death warmed over, Elliot managed a cheeky grin up at her. "Let me out of this place," he replied. "_Then _I'll tell you."

"Sure you will," she retorted, shaking her head and making notations on the chart. She grinned as she wrote. "Is this a side effect of the head injury or are you always such a pain in the ass?" Without waiting for a reply, she pulled a penlight from her coat pocket and checked his pupils. "Any pain, dizziness, nausea?"

"No," he answered automatically.

He shifted uncomfortably. The cast on his leg made moving around next to impossible and he had never been able to sleep on his back.

"Any double vision, spotters, or floaters?" she persisted.

"No," he repeated.

She held up three fingers in front of his face. "How many fingers do you see?"

"The same six that I saw last time," he groused sourly. She gave him a look and he relented sheepishly. "Three, Doc. Just three."

"Ok," the doctor said. "Well, the good news is we'll let you get a little more sleep now. You haven't had any complications so far and that's definitely a good sign. We're going to wake you up one more time in about three hours. After that, you should be good to get out of here."

He practically deflated with relief. "Thank you," he said gratefully, settling back.

Hearing the doctor moving around him, he let himself get a good look at her. Middle aged, brunette…matronly figure, so she probably had a few kids. He smiled sympathetically and his voice became genuine. He hadn't really intended to give her a hard time.

"I'll tell you how old I am if you really need me to," he said honestly.

The doctor had been about to turn away to leave. She looked at him in surprise for a moment, but followed his thoughts easily enough. An easy smile graced her face.

From the look of him, she could see he was exhausted and not on the top of his game.

If he was…well, then he would have realized that his age was written on his chart

"That's alright," she replied. "Your secret can stay safe." She raised her eyebrows slightly. "Although you might be surprised how many of us find…_older men_ attractive."

She winked and left the room. He chuckled as he closed his eyes again.

* * *

The sky was dreary again and a few warning raindrops were splattering her windshield when Olivia pulled into a parking space at the hospital early the next morning. She zipped her jacket further up as she made her way inside.

She was startled when she saw her partner in the lobby waiting room when she went past.

He was sitting in a wheelchair wearing the same clothes he'd been admitted in except for his slacks, which had been replaced by a set of dingy scrub pants that were easier to slip on over the enormous cast, and a pair of slippers.

He was obviously exhausted but that still didn't keep her from laughing at the sour expression of misery that radiated his face.

"Say something," he challenged her, raising his eyebrows threateningly. He gripped the armrests of the chair and began to maneuver himself out of it. "I can still kick your butt with one foot."

A gray-haired nurse walked in behind Olivia in time to cut off the retort.

"Mr. Stabler," she scolded, startling Olivia into turning her head. "I'm not going to tell you again to stay in that chair." She was looking at Elliot sternly and Olivia grinned at the look of abashed guilt that came over his face. "I don't _care_ if you're a cop….in here, you're a _patient _and you _will_ follow our protocol until the moment you leave hospital grounds. Keep your butt down in that seat or you won't be leaving."

Judging by the tone of the nurse's voice and the look of petulance that her partner was wearing, it was obvious to Olivia that this wasn't the first time he had pushed the woman's limits. She knew how stubborn Elliot could be and quickly hurried to rescue the poor nurse.

"Quit harassing the staff, would you?" she said in mock disapproval as she signed the discharge papers. "They've had enough to deal with having you here all night. I'm sure you were a pain in the ass."

A loud snort came from behind her. Olivia looked over to see a brunette doctor looking pointedly at Elliot, who in turn hunched down slightly with an abashed expression. His ears had turned red. The doctor was grinning, like she was in on a private joke.

* * *

The hospital had given Elliot a pair of crutches to use at home. Once Olivia had arrived at his apartment building, he spent twenty minutes sitting in the passenger seat staring loathingly at them and then five minutes of glaring stubbornly at Olivia as she stood outside the car smirking at him. Finally he opened the door and grudgingly accepted his partner's help.

She supported him as he tested his weight on the crutches and then stayed by his side for the slow hobble inside the building. He tried to act like the walk was no big deal for him but by the time they actually made it up to his apartment he had broken into a sweat.

Olivia eyed him as he patted his pockets. He was leaning against his door and looked like he was about to drop. He groaned when he realized he was still wearing scrub pants and that the keys were in the pocket of his pants….which were in a bag in the backseat of her car outside.

Taking pity on him, Olivia quickly took out her car keys. He'd had a set of spare keys made back when he had first moved into the apartment and given one to her "in case of emergency." Although she'd teased him about being paranoid, she had secretly been touched by the gesture. She thumbed through her own key collection until she got to his.

"I've got it," she said, moving gently forward past him. She deftly slid the key in and unlocked the door.

"Thanks," he murmured as he lumbered inside after her.

He headed straight for his bedroom. Olivia followed in bemusement. She watched him set the crutches next to the bed, awkwardly balance himself while pulling back the covers, and then sit on the edge of the mattress. He gently shuffled his injured leg into place and then flopped down onto his back with a huge sigh of relief, gathering the blankets up over himself.

She waited a minute but he didn't say anything. When he sighed again and she saw his eyes closing she wondered if he had actually forgotten she was there. She shook her head, wondering just _what_ kinds of drugs he had been given at the hospital, and cleared her throat loudly.

He jerked violently and his eyes flew back open. She snickered.

"Some way to treat a guest," she said. "And after all that chauffeuring I did for you today?" She glared at him teasingly.

Elliot didn't look the least bit abashed. He shrugged with a dismissive scowl. "Guest, my ass," he said. "Your butt imprints are etched into my couch. You want anything, you know where to find it. I'm going to sleep."

He closed his eyes again. She raised her eyebrows slightly and didn't move. A beat passed and then she saw his eyes crack back open. When he spoke, his voice was sincere, as she'd known it would be.

"Thanks, Liv," he murmured drowsily. "You know I appreciate it."

Olivia smiled genuinely. "Anytime," she replied. "I've got to go anyway. Cragen needs me back at the station." She looked at her watch. "I'll come by again after work and bring you your stuff out of my car. You need anything before I go?"

He hummed noncommittally. He was already half-asleep. Olivia shook her head with a smile. She turned and headed out, pausing in the doorway to shut off the bedroom light.

* * *

Olivia pushed through the squad room doors in time to catch the tail end of an explanation the captain was giving to Munch and Fin. The three men were standing in front of the investigation board.

Cragen turned away from the board to see her coming towards them.

"Olivia," he acknowledged her, catching the attention of Munch and Fin. They turned toward her too. "How's Elliot?"

She took off her coat. "They kept him up last night and gave him strong drugs today before he left," she answered as she hung her coat on the back of her chair. "He crashed almost before I got him back to his apartment."

"Did anyone at the hospital get in touch with Kathy?" he asked.

She shrugged. "He didn't say anything to me about it," she replied. "But I'm planning to go back to check on him later tonight. I can ask him about it."

The captain looked at her wryly. "Don't do anything until you talk to him," he said. "But we all know Elliot's going to try to sneak his way back in here sooner than he should be if someone isn't keeping an eye on him."

Olivia smirked in agreement. "Well, I'll do my best," she said. She looked over at the board. "Did we get anything yet on the ones who got away?"

Cragen shook his head. "Still no idea how they're connected to the guy we got yesterday," he answered, "and he's not talking. We can hold him a little while now for the eluding and assault on an officer, but once that time is up we're going to have to cut him loose if we can't get anything besides the allegations of abuse that the neighbor gave us."

He plucked a piece of paper off of the board that had been taped up there.

"This is the neighbor's address," he went on. "Go talk to him again about the allegation he made to the police. We're going to need more than just his word if something is really going on here. Munch and Fin are going to talk to both of the alleged victims."

Olivia nodded, taking the address from the captain. "I'll call you if I get anything," she told him.

* * *

A loud, deafening buzz jarred through Elliot's drug-induced unconsciousness some time later. He jumped awake as if he had just been shot, his limbs twitching instinctively with shock.

He lay still, breathing hard and blinking with disorientation, his brain still fuzzy with medication to make sense of his surroundings for a long moment. He squinted across the room at the clock. He'd been asleep for three hours.

A second buzz came following immediately by a third.

"Damn it," he grumbled, struggling to sit up.

The annoyance became anger when the buzzing continued a fourth and fifth time in a long pattern as if the person pushing it was insistent. By the time he had fumbled for the crutches and scooted his legs around, there had two more equally timed long buzzes and he had begun to curse viciously.

"I'm **coming**!" he snapped loudly, hobbling awkwardly on his crutches across the apartment.

Another buzz sounded as he approached. His blood was almost boiling by the time he reached the intercom. The only people who ever came over were his kids and Olivia. They all had keys and never buzzed. Anyone else who might need to see him certainly wouldn't make that kind of racket.

He practically smashed the talk button with his finger. "**What**?" he all but shouted into the speaker. "What is it?"

No one answered.

"Hello?" he called angrily. "Who's there?"

Still no answer. He gritted his teeth and took his finger off of the speaker button.

"God **damn **it," he cursed again.

He painstakingly turned back around and leaned on the crutches once more. His leg had started to hurt by then in protest of moving. He was winded already just from making the labored trip from his bedroom and still exhausted from the medication. He felt like he was going to sink to the floor with each step back toward his bed.

Halfway back to his room there was a knock on the apartment door.

Elliot froze mid-step. He stood still as a hard and cold sensation started to creep into his stomach.

Another knock. This time it was harder.

He slowly turned around again. This time his steps were heavy with trepidation along with effort. He paused for a minute when he reached the door. Then he looked through the peephole.

No one was outside the door.

Elliot furrowed his brow and his stomach knotted. He cautiously opened the door far enough to look out without unlatching the chain and scanned the hallway. His heart began to race.

There was no one in sight. The hallway was empty.

_It's the medication_, he realized suddenly as he stepped back. _I'm having a bad reaction to the medication and it's making me hallucinate. _

Relieved and feeling slightly foolish, Elliot began pulling the door closed. He was startled by a slight squishing sound and a sudden resistance against the bottom.

He looked down at the ground and he saw something lying on the carpet outside. He opened the door wider to get a better look.

"What the **hell**-?" he said in shocked disgust when he saw what it was.

It was a dead bird. The head was missing and the body was covered in blood.


End file.
